US-led joint bid wins right to host 2026 World Cup

A united bid by the U.S., Canada and Mexico was awarded the right Wednesday to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

The FIFA Congress held its annual meeting the day before the start of the World Cup to vote on whether the U.S.-led bid or the Morocco bid will get to host the soccer tournament. The North American bid won 134 to 65, according to ESPN FC.

The North American bid was in better shape to host the World Cup. All soccer venues are expected to be ready by the time the 2026 World Cup rolls around. The U.S. proposed to host 60 out of the 80 matches, leaving Canada and Mexico with 10 fixtures each.

The 2026 World Cup will be the first tournament played in the expanded 48-team format, up from the current 32 countries. It will also be the first tournament to be hosted by three countries, Goal reported.

President Trump tweeted his support for a 2026 World Cup bid in April, though it came under scrutiny by FIFA officials for possibly violating soccer’s governing body’s ethics rules.

“The U.S. has put together a STRONG bid w/ Canada & Mexico for the 2026 World Cup,” he wrote. “It would be a shame if countries that we always support were to lobby against the U.S. bid. Why should we be supporting these countries when they don’t support us (including at the United Nations)?”

With Russia hosting in 2018 and Qatar in 2022, no countries from either Europe or Asia were allowed to bid for the 2026 tournament. The only two official bids came from the U.S.-Canada-Mexico of North America, and Morocco of Africa.

Qatar, who will host in 4 years’ time, will mark the first time the tournament is played during winter months because of the nation’s high temperatures during summertime.

Mexico has twice hosted the World Cup, in 1970 and 1986, the U.S. hosted in 1994.

Fox News’ Stephen Sorace and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

Ryan Gaydos is an editor for Fox News. Follow him on Twitter @RyanGaydos.